IBARW 2: "But Japan is racist too!"

[oyceter]

This is a post for Intl. Blog Against Racism Week.

My terms, definitions, and disclaimers

This is sparked by these comments made during the HP Daily Deviant Debate, but I am not specifically commenting on said debate.

Definition: The "But Japan is racist too!" fallacy is used in discussions of racism as a means to deflect attention from white privilege in the oppression of POC. It is a special corollary of the "But POC are racist too!" fallacy.

Example: Person A: "I'm still mad that the Haitian on Heroes has no name and little agency! It is in a long tradition in which black men on TV and in movies play sidekicks to the white heroes and get no agency."

Person B: "But look at Hiro and Japanese society! Japan is racist too!"

The Nanking Corollary: Person A: "First, you are redirecting the conversation, as we are not talking about racism in Japanese society. Second, even though non-Japanese people are discriminated against in Japan, being white in Japan still carries privilege that being Ainu, Korean, Filipino, black, Ryukyuan, and etc. does not. Furthermore, if you look at the global hierarchy of race, you will find that white privilege exists on nearly every level."

Person B: "You think non-white people can't be racist? What about the Rape of Nanking?"

Further exploration: Usage of the "But Japan is racist too!" fallacy is an automatic bonus square on White Liberal Bingo. Usage of the Nanking Corollary means you FAIL AT LIFE. Usage of either when your only contributions to discussions on racism are limited to "You are racist toward white people!" and "Why are you so angry? We should all live in peace" and when the only time you discuss racism of your own accord on your blog or in RL is when you personally feel offended by someone suggesting something is racist is also a FAIL AT LIFE.

Please note that talking about racism in Japan in discussions that originally focus on comfort women, WWII, immigration policy, the Tokugawa caste system, the occupation of Taiwan, the relocation of Korean people, or other such relevant topics does not count as a fallacy.

"But... Japan is racist... I don't get it...," someone says.

This is true. Japan is racist. On the other hand, using this argument during a discussion of white privilege is the equivalent of someone saying "She steals too!" when accused of theft themselves. That is to say, it is not the topic at hand, and furthermore, people are using it as a means to not talk about an uncomfortable topic like white privilege. Also, no one is stopping anyone from talking about how Japan is racist anywhere else, but somehow it just keeps popping up in discussions of white privilege.

Even more, I would add that focusing on racism directed toward white people in Japan while completely ignoring the existence of white privilege and not putting it into context is misrepresentation and turns the conversation back to whiteness. Racism in Japan is by and large directed at other POC, particularly those of Korean, Chinese, Filipino, Ainu and Ryukyuan descent, not to mention the burakumin, who are arguably not an ethnic minority.

Also, since someone decided to bring in the Rape of Nanking, Japanese colonialism happened in a very specific context. I am by no means saying that Japanese colonialism was ok; they forced a generation of people to learn a different language in Taiwan, and that is next to nothing compared to what they were doing in Korea. Nor am I saying that all discussions of Japanese colonialism must be placed within a Western context. But what I'm seeing is not the desire to discuss Japanese colonialism at great length, but the desire to discuss non-Western colonialism at great length. And if the latter is the case, then I do think context is necessary, because Japanese colonialism is an anomaly in the history of modern colonialism.

And now, massive disclaimers! I am glossing over and simplifying huge chunks of history here in an attempt to be somewhat concise. I am also trying to use "Chinese" and "Japanese" and such as adjectives, not nouns; I hated reading sentences like "The Chinese were anti-trade" in textbooks because it implies a homogeousness that does not exist (Seriously! Who? The government? The merchants? The bureaucrats? When? Qing Dynasty? Early Qing? Late Qing? Where? Guangzhou? Shanghai? Because I really don't think middle-class Chinese merchants in Guangzhou were anti-trade). Also, said homogeousness is usually only in reference to non-Western countries; Western countries unsurprisingly get lots of focus on individuals and factions and such. My knowledge of all this largely comes from my college major and my personal interest in colonialism and imperialism, particularly in Asia, particularly with regard to China and Japan. I regretfully don't know much at all about Korea and pretty much nothing at all about Southeast Asia. I'm also using "Western" and "the West" to refer to "Europe and the United States."

While the Japanese government had made several attempts to conquer Korea and China in the past, Japanese colonialism officially began in 1895 in the Meiji era (1868-1912) and ended in 1945 with Japan's defeat in WWII. The focus of the Meiji Restoration was on westernization and modernization, which was sparked by Commodore Perry's arrival in 1854 and the subsequent opening of Japan to international trade (by force). People in Japan were also taking note of what was happening to China, the former main power of the region.

For those unfamiliar with Chinese history, China had engaged in trade with the West for a while, but there was a huge trade deficit, as there was a great demand for Chinese porcelain, tea and silk. By and large, the Chinese government wanted silver and not that much else. All this refers roughly to the first half of the Qing Dynasty (c. 1644-1800). I sarcastically note that most representations of historical Chinese culture in the West are based on the Qing Dynasty, which while important, is also a fraction of the span of Chinese culture, and that those portrayals are actually based on the Manchu (the clothing, the queue, the round hats), and yes, I do realize that is probably because that is when the West had the greatest amount of exposure to China. I still dislike the resulting snapshot standing for the entire thing.

Anyway. As we all know, Britain eventually found the one non-silver trade item that the Chinese population did want: opium. To put in further perspective, this all could not have happened without imperialism, as British merchants first began purchasing opium for trade in India, and later gave the East India Company a monopoly over opium in India. Cue the first and second Opium Wars, in which the Chinese government was forced to cede more and more, including Hong Kong, the legalization of opium, trade rights, and the opening of several spheres of influence to Russia, Britain, Italy, France, the US, and Japan (later on).

ETA: See also the forcing of extraterritoriality (thanks Mely!), in which assorted foreign governments demanded that both China and Japan recognize that Westerners were not subject to Chinese or Japanese law and demanded jurisdiction in cases involving locals and foreigners. Unsurprisingly, this was hotly contested by the Chinese and Japanese governments and was often used by foreign powers to consolidate their own power and to a) prosecute locals who acted against them and b) allow their own people to get away with a ton of stuff (ha, yes, I am so scholarly in my terminology...).

What does this have to do with Japan? Japan was watching the entire time. China was by no means the center of the Asian world in the 19th century (or really at any time), but it had a good deal of wealth and political power, which meant people noticed it. And when Perry landed, it ended up being a wake-up call for Japan: modernize, because if you don't, look what happened to China. The unequal trade treaties that the United States and the United Kingdom made Japan sign probably looked frighteningly like the unequal trade treaties that were being forced on China just ten years earlier. I am sure people in Japan, particularly in the Japanese government, were keenly aware that the only reason something like Perry landing and forcibly opening trade hadn't happened earlier was because the West had been distracted by China.

And so, in order to take a place in the new world order, the Japanese government decided to embark on the course of imperialism, modeling itself after Europe and the US. Just to be clear, this is not a hand-wavy way of saying "they modernized the country." The Japanese government sent scholars and government officials to several European countries and to the US in order to look at things like the militaries, school systems, technology, government and etc., they brought in American and European consultants in those areas, and much of the rhetoric around the late 1800s was about leaving Asia and embracing the West. This was a very deliberate modeling, and it was specifically modeled after the West.

None of this, by the way, excuses Japanese imperialism or lessens its impact; the government decided on imperialism as a course of action, and it is fully responsible for that decision.

What I mean to point out, though, is that by bringing up Japanese imperialism in the context of an argument about white privilege, people are also indirectly implicating the white world, whether they realize it or not. Again: if the discussion is focusing on Japanese imperialism and its effects on Asia, I do think bringing in the history of Western imperialism can be used as a means to redirect blame from Japan, which is inaccurate and insulting to those who suffered under Japanese rule. I personally think the Japanese government's refusal to apologize to Korea and its attempts to whitewash history in school textbooks is racist and absolutely appalling, and while I'm aware that Japanese rule over Taiwan was relatively kinder than Japanese rule over Korea, they still occupied my country for fifty years.

And I'm sure China would have colonized much more extensively had the West not come in; the Qing Dynasty had already colonized people in the west and the north. But. The West did, and China didn't. And all this is my very long-winded way of saying, "Don't bring Japan into discussions of white privilege unless you're willing to deal with all this history as well. Because these are the things that shaped my world, and if you didn't know these things, think about why that is when the winners write history."*


* Seriously. I don't understand Chinese well enough for complex discussions, and I only took two years of Chinese history in Taiwan (in Chinese), as opposed to multiple years of world geography and history and US geography and history in my bilingual school. But the rage about the Opium Wars and the Japanese occupation? That's from Chinese history, where in the textbooks, they still call the treaties of Nanjing and Tientsin "the Unfair Treaties" (bu ping dun tiao yue) and people still hate talking about the Opium Wars. I still remember memorizing the names of the eight countries that held spheres of influence in China and memorizing the names and conditions of treaty after treaty after treaty, all at gunpoint, all stripping things away.

As a secondary footnote, angry as I am about these aspects of Chinese history, I'm also aware that China got off relatively easily when compared to other places colonized by the West. China was never the official colony or colonies of anyone (though not for lack of trying) and didn't end up being parcelled out (though again, not for lack of trying), and the colonizers left China hurt, but not as devastated as other places.

Comments

[snarp]

Relatedly: There's also the American occupation's cover-up of Unit 731, which some people have argued actually had a higher death toll than the Rape of Nanking, simply because the diseases the military released persisted and continued killing people long after the war ended.

This is not to subtract any of the Japanese government's responsibility - the United States only got involved after the program had been dismantled. But when the United States government bought the data from the perpetrators in exchange for amnesty, it became complicit. It severely weakens claims that white racism is only "as bad as" that of other groups that the preferred example is only a half inch away from an incident which the United States was able to literally write out of history until the 80's.

And even now, English-speaking textbooks and media don't talk about Unit 731 anywhere near as much as they do the Rape of Nanking - at one point I found myself the only person in a classroom full of East Asian Studies majors who knew what it was. It still doesn't get talked about. There's a very clear power differential there.

[rozk.livejournal.com]

You are absolutely right on this, but it needs to be added that there is quite strong evidence that Hirohito was at least aware of, more probably reading reports from, Unit 731. (Williams and Wallace's 1989 book on the Unit makes a good case on this)

As with the Rape of Nanking, one of the reasons why the USA soft-pedalled retributive justie was the deal whereby the Emperor was quietly amnestied for everything in which he had been complicit as a pre-condition of surrender. Racism is a factor in all of this as is realpolitik, but in complex ways; US racism meant that sections of the Japanese establishment were held less accountable than their German equivalents rather than more.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

oh, jesus. i didn't know about unit 731. thank you for posting about it. people need to know about shit like this. i don't mean "oh icky japanese people", i mean, people need to know that things like this can and do happen, so that we can work to make sure they happen as little as possible. (i used to be an optimist and think that we, as humans, meant "never again". but i don't believe that any more.)

[xanphibian.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I've learned more from reading this post than I ever did in school. :-/

[oyceter]

Thanks for reading!

Also, just sort of curious: is any of this stuff in what you learned? I have a really vague sense of the US education system -- I know my world history textbook in Taiwan (a US textbook) was more on the lines of "Here is a chronological history of the Western world, largely starting from the Greeks, and we will intermittently give you chapters on the rest of the world with attempts at context that don't work too well, given the layout." And of course, it didn't help that our teachers would often skip through those chapters.

(Part of their rationale was that we would learn Chinese history elsewhere or already knew it, which... yes, sort of. But we stopped having Chinese history classes in 8th grade.)

REPLY to your comment on my blog: Quest For Comedic Stardom

[(Anonymous)]

Got here via your link in my LJ! This is great and really interesting. Would you mind if I linked to it from the del.icio.us for Intl. Blog Against Racism Week?

Of course, YES! Both! Do whatever you can and want to get the word out! Thank you sooooo much! Glad you liked the post. Check back often or blogroll/bookmark me to make it easier. Thanks so much! Love the Sakura! (I used to live in Japan--spring is the season of the cherry blossom.

Where is your email?

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry for the un-related comment, again. Where is your email address?

thanks again

Lucy

Re: Where is your email?

[oyceter]

No problem! It's oyceter at gmail dot com.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this. I know you only gave an overview of the political history you wanted to cover, but it opens up so many avenues of investigations by giving them a broad context, which makes me want to look up the details.

[oyceter]

Thanks for reading!

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

This is a really good post. A couple of months ago the U.S. congress was debating a resolution that Japan should apologize to the comfort women--and I basically agree on that point, but since when has the U.S. apologized for slavery or imperialism segregation, and since when do we get to claim a moral high ground by telling other countries to say they're sorry?

I wonder if people are so quick to accuse Japan of racism because
(a) going to Japan might be their first experience of being in a racial minority--and that can be a shock if you are soaking in white privilege;
(b) either that experience, or learning about issues like Japanese imperialism, comfort women, WWII, etc might be their first experience of learning that Japan is not, you know, happy anime funland.

[jiawen]

Whenever I hear someone from the US say that China should leave Tibet, I want to ask what they're doing to make reparations to Native American groups who lived here before Westerners took over. The general idea seems to be "But that happened a long time ago! China is doing terrible things to Tibet right now!" Hmm, what's the statute of limitations on genocide? The one does not excuse the other; they both point to the need for people to work harder to do the right thing.

[jiawen]

"China was never the official colony or colonies of anyone (though not for lack of trying) and didn't end up being parcelled out (though again, not for lack of trying)" Hmm, I'd say that the foreign concessions were colonies. (And the last ones were only given back in 1997.) But China was not, as a whole piece, a colony. Is that what you meant?

[oyceter]

But China was not, as a whole piece, a colony. Is that what you meant?

Ah, yes, sorry, that is what I meant. Because like you say, Hong Kong = definitely a colony ;). And despite Hong Kong and the spheres of influence and Manchuria/Manchukuo, China largely retained its central government (albeit with the messiness after the fall of the Qing Dynasty with the Nationalists and the Communists), and the scale of colonization was very different from the scramble to parcel out Africa among European nations.

[veejane.livejournal.com]

1. Yay on rhetorical smackdowns! I am quoque on your tu quoque!

2. Thanks for the capsule history. At some moment not politically fraught, I would love to pick your brains about the Opium Wars, because everything I know about western trade with China is pre that period. (My mother's master's was mostly about porcelain imports to the west, pre-1840. No, of course I didn't learn any of this in school.) I knew it was a deeply hinky situation, but, I gather I am taking away the right impression if my first thought is to flash back to those early-80s conspiracy theories about the CIA importing cocaine into the US to fund its nasty operations in Central America? (Urk.)

[oyceter]

2. Sort of? Um. It is complicated. It also doesn't help that I can split historical hairs for forever! And I do not want to portray China as a passive victim; there were definitely Chinese merchants smuggling opium in, and the Qing government tried several times to outlaw opium (met with British resistance and oh you can hear my teeth grinding), and there was an incidence that sort of sparked off the first Opium War, in which a ton of opium was dumped into the ocean.

The British claimed this was a huge financial loss and wanted to be paid back. Which, technically true. Morally and on all other scales, I roll my eyes forever at them!

Oh wait, I think I got completely sidetracked. I don't even think it was on the level of a conspiracy theory; it was just: "We have the right to trade in opium, and don't you dare make laws outlawing opium. And don't you dare attempt to stop this trade." Much like many of the "dialogues" to get China and Japan to open up at the time: "We want to trade with you! Oh, you don't want to trade with us? You are being close-minded, and since we have the right to trade with you, we will now threaten you with force!"

Which, in a nutshell, is why the arguments of "Chinese and Japanese culture were wrong and close-minded and hidebound to not want trade!" drive me crazy, because they're so often used as apologies for imperialism.

[justinelavaworm.livejournal.com]

Well said, Oyce! It is such a tedious arguing strategy. And should have been abandoned in primary school.

And nicely done contextualisation of Japanese imperialism.

[oyceter]

Thanks for reading!

I am still so mad at that guy who made the Nanking comment.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

You are *awesome*.

I wonder if it's worth adding "extraterritoriality" to the list of concessions demanded from China? I know you weren't trying for an exhaustive list, but it's such a huge and outrageous demand, and it's one that the Western powers had already demanded from Japan, so that extra bit of knowledge (which I did learn in school, but I remember mainly because of, um, Stephen Sondheim) added even more weight to your contextualization of Japanese imperialism.

[oyceter]

I wonder if it's worth adding "extraterritoriality" to the list of concessions demanded from China?

Ooo, yes! I was going to go into that with the spheres of influence, because (I think) that's what partially sparked the Boxer Rebellion. Also, you found a word for it! I didn't realize there was one.

see also:

[bellatrys.livejournal.com]

"Hey, black people enslaved each other!" meme beloved of the National Review crowd.

On the other hand, using this argument during a discussion of white privilege is the equivalent of someone saying "She steals too!" when accused of theft themselves.

Yup, that's all it is. "Playground Logic," I've called it - little kids use it all the time. "But Bobby took some cookies and you didn't punish HIM!"

Re: see also:

[oyceter]

Heh, yes, exactly.

Novik does something interesting with this in Throne of Jade

[bellatrys.livejournal.com]

where her enlightened-but-not-implausibly-so-for-his-era* hero Lawrence ends up entangled in diplomatic battles with the Chinese government in her AU early 19th c., and treads the delicate line of having him be clueless about why there are anti-British factions there and feeling aggrieved that they don't think his country's just WONDERFUL, and making it clear to the reader *by* Lawrence's very John-Bullish indignation that it's more than he realizes, and that while the methods of his nemesis in the story are to be deplored (not least because they involve a bloody coup at home) the Chinese prince is justified in his objections to the British para-governmental aggression via corporations, that the Opium Wars didn't come out of nowhere all the sudden.

I can't go into more details w/o getting spoilery, but I thought it was well done and historically plausible *and* in chara the way she has Lawrence realizing that by comparison the UK isn't all perfect and superior in every way to China, and being generally peeved and resentful by this realization, and never (yet) fully realizing how, ahem, insular he is for all his education and travel, and how much Temeraire is the foil for this.

_{*His family are strong supporters of Wilberforce in Parliament.}

Re: Novik does something interesting with this in Throne of Jade

[oyceter]

Novik does do interesting things with ToJ -- I think I wrote up my reaction to it somewhere on my LJ. I like that she doesn't give Lawrence a free pass to see past his own cultural walls, but on the other hand, on a more emotional level, I just wanted to smack him all the time. Ah ha. Never let it be said that I am not emotional about this.

[gloss]

Fantastically written. I'm so grateful for your ability to slice-and-dice shitty arguments as well as you do.

[oyceter]

Thank you!!

[kate_nepveu]

Thank you for the excellent added context. One of the things I have failed to do in preparation for my upcoming (eek! in a week!) trip to Japan is read more about Japanese history, so this was very useful.

[oyceter]

Glad to be of use! Also, ooo, if you want something more modern and eminently readable, I'd rec John Dower's books (War Without Mercy and Embracing Defeat). The first is on US and Japanese propaganda during WWII and the second (which I haven't read) is on the rebuilding of Japan post-WWII. It's gotten great reviews (and a Pulitzer, I believe), and from what I've read Dower is great at presenting history in a way that neither apologizes for Japanese actions in WWII or decontextualizes it.

Experiential rambling.

[fireriven.livejournal.com]

When Koizumi was Prime Minister of Japan, he persisted in going and paying his respects to Yasukini Shrine every single year. I never understood this and he was constantly taken to task for it by the Chinese and the Koreans. He kept saying he went there was a private citizen and not as a public official, but I kinda wanted to shake him so that his lion's mane flew about and say, "There's no such thing as privacy for a public official-- especially on that score!" Luckily, he's not PM anymore, so there's that.

When I lived in Japan, I visited the Peace Park in Hiroshima. When my friend and I finished touring the museum, we were approached by a Korean news team who wanted to get us on camera. As he asked us questions, we were horrified to discover that he was trying to lead us into saying we thought the USA was correct (and that it was good and proper) to have used nuclear weapons on Japan. We were horrified and excused ourselves from the interview when we realized what they wanted.

From what I was able to learn from my time in Japan, Japanese textbooks whitewash everything to the point that younger Japanese don't understand why there's such anti-Japanese sentiment in China and Korea. And although I don't know much about Chinese textbooks, I know that some Korean textbooks are very anti-Japanese: not content to be factual, some actually contain racist propaganda. My boyfriend taught a history class in which he had a Korean exchange student and, everytime Japan was mentioned, the student would bang on the table and demand the class be told of how evil the Japanese are. He also brought in some of his Korean textbooks to share with my boyfriend, but I'd have to talk to him again to get the specifics of what the student showed him and told him.

I know I rambled, but these were a few things I was reminded of as I read your post.

Re: Experiential rambling.

[oyceter]

*sigh* Oh Koizumi. Whyyyyyy?? I rolled my eyes every time he made that excuse.

I think... there is a lot of anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea. And I don't doubt that there's racist propaganda, and I do not think that's ever a good thing. On the other hand, I am somewhat conflicted about it, because it is a reaction to being colonized and invaded and majorly wronged. And I don't feel right judging people on how they react. On the other other hand, textbooks are not neutral and can foster more hate over generations. On the other hand x3, I am conflicted about not approving of anger and pain, particularly in response to something like colonization.

And it's even more complicated because of how the Japanese government keeps denying that things happened, because then it feels even more important that there is a Korean voice.

In conclusion: I am very conflicted!

[brownbetty]

Thanks for this post, I feel smarter! I knew about the Opium Wars, but I'd never seen the connection to Japanese Imperialism, so thanks for laying it out.

[oyceter]

Thanks for reading!

[ktempest.livejournal.com]

I am still speechless over that Rape of Nanking comment someone made to you. That just... gah.

also, awesome post. :)

[oyceter]

Gah, I think that goes into my "comments/posts of infamy" folder.

And thank you!

[coniraya.livejournal.com]

Well said, a nice quick overview. The influence of the West on Japanese colonialism is usually so obscured as to be made invisible.

[oyceter]

Thank you!

[shadowfae.livejournal.com]

using this argument during a discussion of white privilege is the equivalent of someone saying "She steals too!" when accused of theft themselves .... Also, no one is stopping anyone from talking about how Japan is racist anywhere else, but somehow it just keeps popping up in discussions of white privilege.

THANK YOU so MUCH for stating this so plainly! A-fucking-men!

I am so sick of white people pulling Japanese, Mayan/Aztec cultures and the Yoruba out of their asses when we are having a discussion on WHITE racism.

I <3 you.

[oyceter]

Thank you for reading!

[kitsunejin.livejournal.com]

Second, even though non-Japanese people are discriminated against in Japan, being white in Japan still carries privilege that being Ainu, Korean, Filipino, black, Ryukyuan, and etc. does not.

YES. I'm a non-Japanese person currently living in Japan, but I've never been the victim of any kind of racial prejudice - because I'm white. Everyone is not only not prejudiced towards me, they are actively kind and go out of their way to help me, put up with my constant failure to express myself in Japanese, and so on. Part of that is because I'm young, female, and earnest, but I would be kidding myself if I thought that race didn't have anything to do with it. Whenever I hear one of my host parents say something snide and racist about Korean or Chinese people, whenever I go to a nearby city with one of the highest Brazilian populations in Japan where the only bilingual Portuguese signs say things like "Beware - police patrol here", I'm reminded that even here in racist Japan, I have privilege. I can't help but cringe when my English teacher talks about how he was treated when he went travelling in several Western countries, how he was called names and jeered and laughed at; it is not only stupid and inappropriate but wrong to hijack a discussion of racism by saying that the way he and I have been treated is the same thing. It's not, and we need more people like you saying that. So thank-you.

[oyceter]

*nods* Yes, exactly! And the thing is, I do sympathize with people going to Japan and suddenly being discriminated against, particularly women, but like you say, it's not cool when it keeps hijacking discussions of racism!

[ciderpress.livejournal.com]

It's always... fascinating to read of the "Japan is racist, too!" argument because it's so (a) besides the point of the current conversation about race and racism in the West and (b) incredibly ignorant, as you excellently lay out, the influences of the West on 19C East Asian history. I know that white people are geniunely shocked when they find out how complicit and well, not just complicit, but how much of the damage and colonisation of the East by whomever was in direct relation to the powerplays that were going on in Europe and America at the time, being played out in other continents of the world.

The Qing dynasty vs. Japan conflicts that lasted directly involved England, Russia, Germany and France, this was affected by China vs. France wars over Vietnam, China vs. Japan wars ( and sometime, vs. the US) over the then Chosun (which the Japanese renamed "Korea" in English after the occupation and other Asian states), Japan vs. Russia wars (where Japan was ulitimately funded and supported by England and the US) which led to what happened in the first four decades of the 20C in East Asia.

The absolute ignorance and whitewashing of ugly parts of history -- and not just by the Japanese but the West, too -- is, I think, a case of privilege. And the ignorance shown and used as an attack of people wishing to talk about race is, heh, ill-advised at best because it manifests evidence of ingrained privilege.

I think it ultimately ties into why people in the West feel so suprised there is so much anti-US and anti-West sentiment in the world, it's easy to be blinded to history when you get to write the history books and leave out the uncomfortable parts.

I also wanted to say something about anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea and how I don't agree with this being called de-facto racist -- not that I think that you are -- but this comment is already long enough. Just to say, hmm, it all related to how the West lacks specific context because people aren't very interest in history in Asia.

Anyway, thank you very much for this post.

[oyceter]

Gack, anti-US/anti-West sentiment! I seriously need a whole 'nother post for that one ;). But yeah... I mean, I get why Americans and Western Europeans are sick of hearing about why the world hates them, and I do think at times it is a little kneejerk. BUT.... most of the time I get tired of the defensiveness and want to yell, "People! There is a lot of anti-American and anti-West sentiment because of how you guys horribly abused power in the past two centuries or so!"

And much like institutional racism, it's not something individual people are personally responsible for (unless you are, say, George Bush). But that still doesn't change the fact that the US and the Western world have a ton of power, financially and politically and socially, and also that Western imperialism basically fucked up a ton of stuff.

I also wanted to say something about anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea and how I don't agree with this being called de-facto racist -- not that I think that you are -- but this comment is already long enough. Just to say, hmm, it all related to how the West lacks specific context because people aren't very interest in history in Asia.

*nods* Definitely. I'm conflicted about this, much like how I am toward accusations of racism in POC. Like... I do think it exists. But on the other hand, it is so influenced by the political situation of now and the past and so influenced by how the Japanese government has basically acted like a complete asshat for decades (I keep wanting to yell "Dude! Just apologize! OMG!"). And while I generally don't think hate is the answer, I do think that talking about anti-Japanese propaganda in Korea gets perilously close to talks about "tone." Because of course people there are angry!

(frozen) Racism in Japan

[(Anonymous)]

interesting concept about all other peoples and the treatment of them by the Japanese during the world wars. But 1 comment about how white only is entitled to privileges in Japan and their hierarchy in the world over is a biased stereotypical cheap shot racist remark in itself. In the publishers own mind is simply ridiculous and probably wish he/she was white.
But then again, the Japanese, well, white people is your god. the blond hair evil blue eyed demon is hated in all other countries, and is true to be feared because they do hold the worlds most dangerous weapons of mass destruction at their finger tips, for now. So, yeah your blow-in' em' like scared children in a haunted house. You mimic/fashion your cartoon characters in their image. you are trying to copy all that they do even your lifestyle, just like monkeys. (but remember, the american white empire was not built just by white as well as Europe, you are simply Japanese educated, which sucks too. You have to runaway to America to try an learn anything while many of your frustrated people jump in front of trains to their deaths because of a screwed up social infrastructure and cheap pretending not to copy engineering. So other asian people who migrate here really want to go to America but can't, so they settle on Japan.
Granted, however, the Japanese empire and all its people was a week away from extinction during the nuclear devastation of world war 2. So of course you surrender like little bitch's your life even up to today, Japanese simply swallows and who cares if you hate all other cultures. Bow down and be humble to all people before you also become more hated. worship the American whites all you want, we'll just take your women. Who do you think you are? In America, you are just simply pimped little whores as we use your country to defend our own. You are no-one there except another minority group. Japan is expendable, we need our bases there to defend our country against a Chinese (flash-point Taiwan) and Russian nuclear attack, of which Japan would be the first country headed east to be obliterated as an early warning outpost for the Americans and Europeans. America doesn't need Japan just as Japan don't need what you call foreigners (gaijin's) Japan is on the American nipple and any contributions made by the Japanese is just those stupid little cars, you cant even make your own buildings (sky scrappers all made and engineered by guess who ? foreigners of all nationalities) You even need all American technology and our businesses flourish here because of your stupid uneducated minds. So worship me you little dumb lamb as I screw all your ewes, all the while you are being led to the slaughter. Japan needs simply to wake up and smell the coffee and your reply is, well, who cares...

(frozen) Re: Racism in Japan

[oyceter]

Please sign your comment.

Thanks for illustrating my point. Don't bother replying; I'm freezing this thread.

[(Anonymous)]

And I'm sure China would have colonized much more extensively had the West not come in.
Not necessarily. Other than forays into northern and western China, and the millennium of occupation in Vietnam, Imperial China was pretty content with itself. I mean, sure they extracted boffo amounts of tribute from the surrounding lesser kingdoms, but that was hardly colonization.

China was never the official colony or colonies of anyone (though not for lack of trying) and didn't end up being parcelled out (though again, not for lack of trying), and the colonizers left China hurt, but not as devastated as other places.

They spread the virus of communism to China, though. To be honest, in some ways it would have had been preferable for an India-like British dominion than for Mao Zedong to ever have taken over. Look at Singapore and how well they turned out. If only Sun Yat-Sen had been more powerful...

[oyceter]

Though I dislike Communist China as well, I don't particularly agree with you and your assessment that British domination of India or Singapore was beneficial. I think colonization is harmful, period. Also, in the future, please sign your comments.